Etymology

lumen

lu·men
L1U1M3E1N1

Today it means: In the International System of Units, the derived unit of luminous flux; the light that is emitted in a solid angle of one steradian from a source of one candela. Symbol: lm. Full definition →

Latin lūmen ← Proto-Italic *louksmən ← Proto-Indo-European *léwksmn̥
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*lewk-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*léwksmn̥
  3. Proto-Italic*louksmən
  4. Latinlūmen
  5. English todaylumen

Borrowed from Latin lūmen (“light, an opening”). Use as a unit was first adopted by French physicist André Blondel in 1894.

Words from the same roots

Latinlūmen all →

lumluminescentlumicanluminaphoneluminiferousluminophorelumirhodopsinlumirubinphillumenismphillumenistphillumeny

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.